''Mezzo Cammin'' is a semiannual online
literary journal devoted to
formalist poetry by contemporary women as well as to bring attention back to work that was more famous in previous eras. The journal's title comes from
Judith Moffett
Judith Moffett (born 1942) is an American author and academic. She has published poetry, non-fiction, science fiction, and translations of Swedish literature. She has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts an ...
's poem "Mezzo Cammin", which in turn takes its title from the opening line of the famous Italian poet
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
's
Inferno. The journal was associated for a long time with the
West Chester University Poetry Conference
The West Chester University Poetry Conference is an international poetry conference that has been held annually since 1995 at West Chester University, Pennsylvania, United States. It hosts various panel discussions and poetry craft workshops, wh ...
.
[Bridgford, Kim.]
Anniversary Statement
" ''Mezzo Cammin: Fifth-Anniversary Issue.'' January 2011. The founding
editor in chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...
was
Kim Bridgford
Kim Suzanne Bridgford (August 8, 1959 – June 28, 2020) was an American poet, writer, critic, and academic. In her poetry, she wrote primarily in traditional forms, particularly sonnets. She was the director of Poetry by the Sea: A Global Confer ...
. Its advisory board consists of well-known poets such as
Annie Finch
Annie Finch (born October 31, 1956) is an American poet, critic, editor, translator, playwright, and performer and the editor of the first major anthology of literature about abortion. Her poetry is known for its often incantatory use of rhythm, ...
,
Allison Joseph,
Marilyn Nelson
Marilyn Nelson (born April 26, 1946) is an American poet, translator, biographer, and children's book author. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, and the former Poet Laureate of Connecticut. She is a winner of the Ruth ...
, and
Molly Peacock
Molly Peacock (born Buffalo, New York 1947) is an American-Canadian poet, essayist, biographer and speaker, whose multi-genre work includes memoir, short fiction, and a one-woman show.
Career
Peacock's latest book is ''Flower Diary: Mary Hies ...
. Since Kim Bridgford's death in June 2020, the journal has been edited by Anna M. Evans.
History
The first issue of the journal came out in the summer of 2006. It was created in response to "the tendency that persists in academia of choosing the work of male poets to define a given era or literary style".
''Mezzo Cammin'' emerged from community of women poets at the West Chester University Poetry Conference.
The magazine was also affiliated with
Fairfield University
Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...
early on.
In 2010, Kim Bridgford, ''Mezzo Cammins editor in chief, became the director of the WCU Poetry Center 2010. The magazine affirmed its link with West Chester in its ''Fifth Anniversary Issue''.
Women Poets Timeline Project
Launched on March 27 at the
National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...
in
Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
,
the ''Mezzo Cammin'' Women Poets Timeline Project
is expected to become the world's largest database of
women poets
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...
.
The date of the launch was symbolically chosen to be at the end of Women's History Month, just before National Poetry Month.
The database started with information about 15 women poets, which will be expanded over time.
[ The project will include biographical articles of the poets, including photographs and reprints of their work when possible. One of the early challenges of the project has been the obtaining of ]copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
permission for the republishing of works online.
See also
*New Formalism
New Formalism is a late 20th- and early 21st-century movement in American poetry that has promoted a return to metrical, rhymed verse and narrative poetry on the grounds that all three are necessary if American poetry is to compete with novels a ...
, the movement to revive formalism in poetry
* New Formalist, a literary journal devoted to all formalist poetry
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.mezzocammin.com/
American literature websites
Biannual magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 2006
Magazines published in Pennsylvania
Online literary magazines published in the United States
Poetry magazines published in the United States